gathering supplies northern ny gorrila

[pothead6]

ok guys ive been going back and forth between buying 4 big bricks of promix for my 16 fem seeds. or just getting stuff to supplement the natrual soil.

both have there pros and cons. biggest con with the promix is having to truck it all the way to a spot dig up native soil and find a place to put that.

so im wondering those of similar area what has worked well for you. they will be going out as seedlings not clones but i still wana get the most i can out of them planning to start indoors around april and put them out early may.

goal is 4-5lb total weight.

what aditives work best to mix in with native soil?

 

[tommy1984]

I done an experiment last season. 4 plants, all spontanica, all with in a 20 ft area. 2 of the plants I brought in a peat based mix and the other 2 I loosened the native soil and put them in that. all 4 got the same nutes, End results was 9-10 OZ each on the plants i put in the peat mix less than half an OZ on the ones in native soil... Ill be making a 4 hour trip soon to pick up a few bales of promix if that tells you anything.

 

[meadowman]

i amend native soil 2-6 months ahead of planting. as long as its half decent soil and not straight clay you should be ok, imo.

 

[pothead6]

well i think ill be getting the promix also. what nutes did you use with the promix. i was planning to use fox farms little bundle pack here

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ALL-NATURAL...ertilizer_Soil_Amendments&hash=item1c0c2a47c8


along with molassis and epson salts all through out then doubling the molassis at the end and flush

how much did you split up your promix i plan to do 1 bale per 5 plants.

 

[tommy1984]

I just used jacks classic duo last season, Ive use the FF trio in the past but if you have a lot of rain you might find it hard to feed them because you need to add it to water, this year i will be using nutri+ outdoor ferts, a grow formula and a bloom formula and 1/2 bale of promix per hole, some might say to use a whole bale per hole, but I have a shoulder injury and dont want to dig that large of a hole in the hard clay and rocks..

 

[pothead6]

thats why i was looking into additives for the native soil. being a bail here is 40+ea i would need 3 to do what i need. at that cost i feel like i could almost have better results with that amount of money on aditives i just am not sure what to use

 

[Buddah Watcha]

Get a few bags of compost and mix about 1 bale peat moss to 1 bag of compost, make sure to mix it well... To that add some dry organic ferts, Garden-Tone, Plant-Tone or whatever else it's easily available to you... U can prolly get a 40lb bag that should be enought for all holes for under 40 bucks at any nursery or home de pot

The Fox Farms trio is not completly organic, in case you care! Only big bloom is 100% organic, which is a great product btw!

Thats my 2 cents, had great success in the past with this mix... The more soil you haul, the more buds you will get. It's worth doing the extra work imo!

Best of luck! And remember to keep an eye for the mold by the end of the season!

 

[Buddah Watcha]

Also if you are short on cash, get a bale of peat moss, around $10 bucks, a big bag of perlite(make sure its not miraclegrow bs with ferts added to it) for around $15 bucks and some dolomite lime for a few bucks and you got yourself pretty much a promix for half the price! A bit more work mixing it all and you are lacking the mycohhizae fungi on it, but you can also obtain that separetly or on your dry ferts!

 

[pothead6]

my budget is either this 3 bricks of promix for 120 divided into 10 plants or that same amount used elsewhere. my thing is ratios for adding ferts im not sure what is to much or what i would need.

i can get a stupid big bag of perlite for 30 measures aprox 3ftby 1.5x1.5 big as hell. i havnt checked prices of peat moss but i can look into it. i just want something that i can get the most bang for buck with what im using.

5fem wonderwomen and 5 fem auora. both potent and outdoor plants from nirvana. i plan to start them indoors early april and put them out may. thats my only window to start them inside.

i see stuff like potash and blood and worm meal at my buddies work but im not sure what ratio to use or what to add to a perlite , peat moss mix. i also found out about making pepper spray to keep animals away from your grow so i deff plan to implicate that. was thinking that would keep anaimals away from digging at the site if i used blood or worm meal

 

[Buddah Watcha]

Down to Earth Vegan Mix is all plant material, which is great to keep critters away, also if you mix everything a few weeks before plants go in, critters get a chance to inspect the dirt and see there is nothing there and most likely they will leave it alone.

The ratios you can usually figure out by reading the label! Usually goes about 1-2 cups per CU

Pro mix is definietly the easy way, a lot less work, but if you budged is limited you might have to do the extra work!

Best of luck on what you decide bro!

 

[pothead6]

no i mean ratio as if i was going to make my own. i can get big 20 lb bags of verm and perlite. as well as peat moss at my buddies store im just not sure what a good ratio would be. or what to add to it. was thinking potash,osmocote, and perhaps w.e else looks apealing. just not sure on the mixture of peat-verm-perlite


http://www.bhg.com/gardening/container/basics/make-your-own-potting-mixes/

thinking the bottom one. with adding potash osmocote and cow poo from lowes. any additional things you think i would need. id obvoisly up the volume from a qt to gallon or something being im working on a larger scale

 

[Team Microbe]

I have some advice for you from what I've learned myself over the past 3-4 years:

Bring in the bales. No questions asked. Quality of soil is critical in flower quality.. however; mixing 1/5 native soil (if it's not too sandy/or filled with clay) to add some micro-diversity. This is done in composting and compost tea to add beneficial microbes to the life of your soil.

To carry the bales in, buy some extra wide gorrilla tape and create two double sided (to prevent the straps from sticking to you) shoulder straps. This is what mexican cartel do for hauling in big loads, they just slide the two straps over the brick and treat it like a backpack. This saves your back and makes you stronger because it's practically a full body work out.

Buy amendments online for cheap then mix your own soil at your side after you haul your bales out. Be sure to mix at the site if possible, if it's not possible (like if you were to grow out in swamps like I do) then throw a tarp down and be sure not to let ANY perlite spill on native soil. Keep everything as natural as it was when you came in!

Remember that when in the bush you'll most likely lose some girls to either mold or weather damage so always plant more than you want to get back, I've learned this slowly but surely. On a good season, I'll get back 75% of my crop. This is where strain selection comes into play big time, mold resistant/early finishing strains are a must on the east because they get a lot of rain compared to the west. West coast = bacteria-dominated soils while East coast = fungal dominated soils. This can benefit you if you focus on making your soil mix balanced (bacteria-dominated) to match your environment. Look into Elaine Ingham on Youtube for more info about soil science, knowledge is def power for the outdoor guerrilla in this aspect. It sucks putting all that back breaking work in to find out come Croptober that your soil wasn't balanced and cut your yield in half... I treat it like college pretty much. You really do get out what you put into this game homie.

Also, grab a green or better yet camo tarp to stash your bales under until the time comes to mix. Getting a big enough tarp is worth it to line the grass, then fold over your bales to prevent animals or moisture from getting in too much. Then branches and leaves over the tarp just as precaution.

Then last but not least of course - the golden rule: don't tell anyone

 

[Team Microbe]

some quick questions I forgot to ask:

do you have an alibi while visiting your patch?

what's the environment like where your site is at? (swamp, upland forest, lowland forest, ect)

How populated is the town youre growing in?


I know NY because I used to grow there growing up... ahhh the memories!

 

[pothead6]

no,swap/lowland forest,not very,


i plan to mix everything then bring it to the site. being it would be rather hard to mix everything at the site. when mixing soil how do you know or tell if its ballenced. like what ph should the soil be and how do you tell

 

[Team Microbe]

no,swap/lowland forest,not very,


i plan to mix everything then bring it to the site. being it would be rather hard to mix everything at the site. when mixing soil how do you know or tell if its ballenced. like what ph should the soil be and how do you tell

ok cool.

Does your soil require a cooking process? If so if you amend at your crib then let it dry out in the sun on some big tarps to cut the weight of your loads down for when you haul soil out. It'd be easier to mix somewhere near the site IMO though, depending if you can clear out a 10x10 space or not.

How many years have you been growing? If organic soil is semi-new to you I'd keep it as simple as possible and splurge on an all-in-one fertilizer like the organic stuff they have at Lowe's or Home Depot. Epsoma makes some great stuff that has mycorrhizae in it as well. I can hunt it down if need be.

Your enemy in the swamp will be low pH and slugs, as well as caterpillars if your strains are susceptible (like C99 crosses). Some Slugo at the base of your pots will do the trick, as well as some dolomite lime for pH issues. I like the powdered as opposed to the peletized because it's readily availble at the time of mixing rather than needing to break down over time like the pellets do. Water polymers are key too in soaking up excessive water in the swamp for when it rains, as well as retaining that water in mid-summer when it gets dry

 

[pothead6]

ive been messing around with weed for a few years not and only had one sucesfull harvest. the reason being conditions outside of my control people found them or i wasnt able to take care of them for w.e reason. thats why this year i went with good fem seeds. and im working on getting all my supplies ahead of time so ill be good for when things start up. im planning to go directly into the native soil with my mix. as to avoid the possibility of the pots them selves being seen i also plan to top the plants at a young age so that they will be short and bushy. i found another ratio i really like that i think im going to go with.

Basic Mix with Compost

2 parts Compost
2-4 parts Sphagnum Peat Moss or Coir
1 part Perlite
1 part Vermiculite


is there anything you can think to add to this. for my compost ill prolly use cow poo or another manure readely availible. i planned to mix in some native soil with this also to give it some already started microorganisms that ill be feeding with mollasis

 

[Team Microbe]

I gotchu man, and I hear you! I went 5 entire harvests without being successful inside... then my first 2 outdoors were bunk because I didn't learn enough or open a book before then. Then I realised this is much like school and you get out what you put into it. I can give you all you need to know to have a good year man, and I will because I wish someone did the same for me when I started out to save all that friggin money and time I put in just to learn the hard way. My ego was the main problem, once you lose that you'll be open to learning everything about growing in and out because "your method" won't be the best in your mind anymore. That's what happened to me at least, you could be totally different. I'm just gonna open all cylinders right now so bare with me, you can use this to look back at throughout the season if you want. So here we go:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_14820-1321-...epsoma&pl=1&currentURL=?Ntt=epsoma&facetInfo=
^ You'll need this for your food

http://www.amazon.com/Espoma-GL6-Ga...qid=1393187566&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=dol+lime
^you'll need this to balance the low pH of the swamp

http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/s...=70093104&zmas=1&zmac=3&zmap=1769&sub_id=1769
^ you'll need this if slugs are a problem (commonly are in swamps)


http://www.gardenteacompany.com/insect-frass-2-lb/
^ this is a great amendment to increase your plants immune-response system (higher pest resistance), it also helps finish crops a week or so early so I use this every year outside. **I go half the recommended recipe on this though**


http://www.roguehydro.com/wiggle-wo...ef=lexity&_vs=bing_shopping&_vm=productsearch
^ castings are great for an organic material (you'll need some to add to the soil food web youre creating). I recommend this over cow and horse manure. If you do go with manure, try to source Alpaca manure out.


Great soil mix to start out with, it lacks food though like I said. I used all this ^ stuff last year and it KICKED ASS in the swamp. Keep in mind that water levels fluctuate throughout the season though if it's a swamp, possibly planting in 20 gallon totes will help with over-watering. What I did was filled each tote with that Epsoma mix and peat moss/dolomite lime, brought it out to the swamp then drilled holes through the bottom once I got there. It acted as a wicking process all season long, and that plant yielded me 12 ounces! Suddenly those extra amendments didn't seem so pricey after all lol

I like the idea of digging a whole in native soil then planting (not only because this produces big plants from unlimited root space) but because it's stealthy like you mention, but only do this if there's no water because come harvest time that place will be flooded most likely (if a true swamp).

Also, mixing mulch into your soil will increase the life in your soil, as well as top-dressing with it too. Mulch is a MUST. Don't cut corners here!

When sourcing compost, I'd invest in a single bag of GOOD compost (Dr Earth or another notable brand from a hydro store near you) and make compost extract from that bag of compost. What this means is extracting all those beneficial organisms from that compost with OUT having to haul it all out to your spot! This is what the older veteran growers have taught me to do, they do it every year to inoculate their soil in the beginning of the season. The reason I say to do this rather than get readily available compost is because unless you can source a solid compost source, the bagged shit they sell outside of hydro stores is what they call "dead" compost. This is actually harmful for your plants, and will look black instead of dark brown. I lost an entire patch due to this crap they sold for $5 a bag at my local nursery. It produces anaerobic bacteria as opposed to beneficial (aerobic) bacteria and will literally take an entire garden out! Watching a ten minute video on YouTube will teach you how to extract compost, just search "how to make compost extract".

You really have to adapt to your environment when guerrilla growing though, if you have a camera that doesnt show location (aka not a cell phone) then take a few pics of your environment for us so we can help you tweak that soil recipe a little more, it's literally the difference between adding moisture absorbing amendments or adding draining amendments and can double your harvest or cut it in half pretty much. Take a picture of the ground when it's dry and after a rain storm, and of the foliage in the general area of your patch. This will tell us a lot about what's in your soil and how it's going to react with the girls.

Soil is everything, aside from location of course. If it doesn't take you a good 20 minutes to hike to your spot, then someone is likely to find it while hunting or hiking since all land is owned by someone. This is why I favor state owned land, because less people are likely to hike back if it's not a park or something commonly used. Just think "do I wanna go back there?" If the answer is other than "psh only if someone paid me to" then it's too easy to find. The reason I chose that quote was because you ARE getting paid to treck back to these unknown spots in a way, since you'll be cropping out come October. I can't think of how many times I've found a good spot and then thought "imagine how good it would be if I went even further". It's only in times like those where I found my few keeper spots that I still use to this day.

 

[Team Microbe]

And if you really want to dive into organics and make this garden flourish, spend a few days learning about compost tea and how to make a simple 5 gal bucket brewer (for under $40).

This is the big secret I don't tell many people: Dragonfly Earth Medicine

https://www.dragonflyearthmedicine.com/products.php

If you brewed a tea with their Lush Roots and Natural Mystic you literally will not have one single pest problem this year. I swear by this. They use science and natural herbs to combat pest and disease, and when applied as a foliar spray it'll make your plants happier than pigs in shit my friend lol

 

[pothead6]

awesome man thanks for actually taking the time to go and find and link all that stuff. ive read alot about making the tea. do you use it to folar feed or just soil. being were still in winter i cant really go to any location just yet so my exact spot is still up for debate. i wana try and find a place that is nice and open thats why in a swap would work well but the underlining issues make me wana go else where.


my goals 4lb with the 8 fems i have from nirvana and the 5 freebie autos i got from attitude. i was planning to go with buckets for the autos. so these ill be able to move around a bit and try and keep them in full sun through out there entire life the 8 fems from nirvana i planned to do 4 plots of 2. may take a trip around town later and get some prices on some peat moss the other stuff u listed aside from lowes ill have to order online. planned to top all of my plants at a young age and then as they flower do the lolly pop tek do u have any expiernce doing that outdoors or would i be better lst

how far will that 1lb of castings go?

 

[Buddah Watcha]

Team Microbe, good write up, you did most of his homework for sure!

Not to shadder any dreams, but 4lb out of 8 plants its a though goal! Unless you get everything perfect it will be though, had a few girls on 100 gal smart pots on the swamp and the best one was probably under half lb. However it's duable, you will need to put in work and make sure things are pretty good from the start.

If you really trying to archive that goal, I wouldn't cheap out on the soil, or on the work... put at least 1 bail of peat moss / 1 big bag 4cu of perlite and a bag or two of compost per plant. High quality compost definitly makes a difference, look through local nurseries for Coast of Maine stuff, it's easily accessible on the east coast. Their lobster compost is bomb!

1 bale = $10
1 bag perlite = $15
2 bags compost = $20
random ammendments per hole= $5

thats $50 per plant x 8 = $200

if you put the work you might reach your goal! However goals are though, because sometimes you think growing #s on the wild its easier than it really is, there are so many factors that influence things, such as genetics, bad luck, etc

Genetics also is very important! Wrong strain and your buds will rot away coming end of the season.

Also consider coco, instead of coir, it's lighter to transport and maybe its easier. Look for the big bales online. However its a bit pricey.

This will be my 3rd run OD this year, 1st year we had a goal of 10#s and we barelly broke 2#, last year we were able to get just over 5... this year maybe we hit 10! Some factors set us back last year but hopefully this will be taken care this season!

It's aways a learning process, unless you go and get your ass on the line there's really no way of learning and improving on what needs improvement!


Also look into mulching, biochar, and all the other organic goodies available.

Now it's the time to do most of the work. Re-search a lot if you really trying to get this done! And do the work, it will suck big ball dragging bales into the swamp, yes it will, try to do your work before its hot and sunny out, nice overcasted day its perfect!

anyways, thats my 2 cents, hope you are doing the research needed and are willing to put the work in!

best of luck!